Another day was drawing to a close, another day of monotonous classes I didn't need to attend anymore, another day of going through the motions to keep the teachers happy and off my ass so I could focus on what really mattered. Which was my personal activities and research, of course. I oozed up to the second floor of my room and threw myself onto my very comfortable sofa and let out a loud sattisfied groan as I relazed into the soft cussions. This was what it was all about, a comfortable place to just relax. Now I just needed Netflix and I'd be in heaven. It was unfortunatle that Netflix just happened to be a few decades away from being a thing.
"Rough day." A familiar voice asked, drawing me out of my comfortable lastitude.
"Not really, just the same boring stuff as always." I answered absently. "So anything new from the school, Maurice?"
Maurice the cat, named after a character from the Discworld books by Sir Terry Pratchett, may be rest in peace, rolled over on his other side and peered up at me. He was black as night, much like his brothers,with piercing green eyes that almost glowed when it was dark. "Meh… Dawlish got sent to the hospital wing again. He got hexed by some bint when he ended up in the middle of a lovers' spat. He's now a half-ass half man-thing. An improvement to my mind, but he didn't seem particularly pleased."
I burst out laughing. "That's the third time this month!"
"Forth actually." Maurice corrected lazily. "A bookshelf fell on him in the library last week, nothing serious, he was in and out of the hospital wing in an hour or so."
"The bad luck on that guy is amazing. You never told me that," I complained lightly.
Maurice did a fair approximation of a half shrug. "Didn't seem important, he was barely hurt."
I gave the cat a flat look. He didn't look cowed. He never did. It was a cat thing, I assumed anyway.
"~sorry…" he apologized insincerely.
I gave him another look before sighing "I have no idea how you turned out like this."
"Talent, and being awesome." Was Maurice's prompt retort.
It was definately a cat thing. Nothing else could be that arrogant. I couldn't help but smile widely a feeling of pride veiling up inside of me. I looked up towards the windows when I heard a distinct clicking sound echo through the room. That was the hatch to the one part of the huge window that I'd enchanted to pop open when Maurice's brother wanted to get in and moments later a large black raven sored into the room. He must have spotted me because he flew right over and settled on the backrest of the sofa. He then puffed up all his feathers, shook himself and started to preen. I noted he seemed a bit agitated. he always preened when he was out of sorts for some reason.
"Did someone wake up on the wrong side of the birds' nest today?" Maurice taunted, never one to let an opportunity to needle one of his fellows go to waste. The glare the raven shot his way seemed to please the cat immensely. I really did a good job, I thought, and gave myself a pat on the back. Am I good or what?
"How are you Quoth?" I asked lightly, diverting his attention away from Maurice and forestalling the likely argument between the two.
"Irritated," Quote grumbled moodily. "Agustus chased me around half the Forbidden Forest." The large raven complained loudly. "It took me nearly an hour to shake the little bastard!"
I barked a laugh. "Is he still trying to catch you? I thought you said he'd given up."
Quoth grumbled to himself before replying. "He took a break to become an animagus."
"An animagus?" I asked incredulously. The little bastard was only third year!
"What does he turn into?" Asked Maurice at the same time.
"A raven!" Quoth spat angrily.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the irony. I did feel a bit bad for Quoth though, Agustus had been on his tail-feathers ever since I had created him two years ago. Agustus would be Agustus Scamander, the son of the very famous Magizoologist Newt Scamander. He seemed to have inherited his father's fascination for strange and unusual creatures. I wasn't sure why he was after Quoth however, he looked no different than any other raven. I'd considered asking him, but hadn't quite been able to work up the urge yet. It wasn't that important after all. It could wait. Besides, it would be fun to see what happened if he did indeed manage to catch Quoth.
"You need any repairs? I just got a fresh batch of ingredients for silicone yesterday." I informed the irate raven.
"No, just some ruffled feathers from diving trough some canopy. I'll check myself over and get back to you if I find any damage." Quoth replied curtly.
"Alright, suit yourself," I told him indifferently. Quoth wasn't stupid after all. He'd tell me if he needed anything. "By the way, where is Gaspode?"
"He is still with the Gryffs." Maurice inform me. "They have taken a liking to him. One can only wonder why since he don't even speak to them.."
"Be nice." I chided.
Maurice snorted. "Why? He's too stupid to notice the difference."
I rolled my eyes. "He's no more stupid then you are."
"That's debatable." muttered Quoth snidely.
Maurice glared at his brother. "Shut up, chicken dinner!"
"Make me, Sylvester."
Maurice screeched in fury and launched himself at the raven. Quoth nimbly fluttered out of the way but was forced to drop to the floor when Maurice unexpectedly used the backrest as a springboard to intercept him in mid-flight. I watched as the two disappeared off the platform and start to chase each other around the room, hurling abuse as they went. I sighed in exasperation. Perhaps it had been a mistake letting them roam around in the normal world. I don't know where they were able to watch cartoons, but somehow they had and now this would happen every now and again.
"Welp! I'm out!" I said and jumped to my feet. It was time to head over to Hagrid's anyway, I thought with a smile. God, I loved that guy. He was one of the bright points early on after coming here. Originally I had no intention of looking him up, didn't even think he'd be around in this time, to be honest. But once I found out he was the thought of meeting him wouldn't leave me alone. He was my favorite after all. And besides, as nice as Paddy was, even in those days, he saw himself as my servant more than as a friend despite my effort to disabuse him of that notion, and that made it a bit difficult to have a conversation with him at times.
Hagrid wasn't any of those things and was even glad for the company. If he'd been anybody else that might have made me suspect he might have ulterior motives. But this was Hagrid, the guy didn't have a subtle bone in his body. The guy is like the embodiment of a good mood. And I was really in the need of a good mood back then, and that was still true today.
"Hi, Drew ~," A soft smooth voice said by my ear, interrupting my thoughts like a car slamming into a wall.
Mmm, vanilla… with a hint of something spicy... I blink and turn to look at the person that had managed to sneak up on me. A girl. Vaguely familiar. My age. Dark straight hair and brown eyes, little button nose. Alabaster skin. Nice tits. I mentally try to stamp on that last thought. Goddamnit! If there ever was a downside to being young again it was the various biological bullcrap that kept fucking with my head. Being a teenager had the drawback of filling my head with notions I really didn't need and could really do without. Like all the naughty dastardly thing I could possibly do to the girls at school being chief amongst them.
I'd first noticed the problem a few weeks after arriving. I was far more emotional than I usually was, even accounting for my traumatic experience. I was short tempered, grossly impatient and I had a hard time keeping my focus for any length of time. It took a bit of time to figure out that while the OS was the same it was now running on a system that wasn't even close to being done cooking yet. In short, I was occasionally acting my age. It was terribly embarrassing, not to mention incredibly frustrating. One would think that a man of my experience would be able to control myself, but apparently biology said otherwise. Then puberty hit and things got really fucking uncomfortable. Suddenly the girls around me were far too enticing and I was finding it hard to justify to myself to keep my damn hands to myself. The endless ideas I had on how I could impress the panties off various girls danced through my head, distracting me from what I needed to get done. I mean, I was a teenager now, it should be okay, right? It wasn't really like I was a dirty old man for doing it! Right!? RIGHT!? AGH!
I kept strong though! I did! The distance I'd cultivated meant I didn't have any opportunities to rub shoulders with anyone, despite Slughorns numerous attempts to change that by having me join his little club. By the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who is daft enough to think "The Slug Club" is the right name for ANYTHING!? I had various other ways to keep my mind away from things I was better off not contemplating at present. Their success rate was spotty at best, but they'd kept me from doing anything I'd regret up to this point.
Of course, as I was experiencing, the voluntary isolation had left me a bit ill-prepared for having my resolve tested. At least if the monumental brainfart I was currently experiencing was any indication. Standing there gaping at the girl like a drooling idiot didn't do my ego any favors. Damnit, I should be well past the part of my life where women reduce me to a grunting animal.
She was smiling now, I noted. Fuck, I'd been standing here staring at her like a numpty for I don't know how long. Say something, you stupid idiot!
"Uh… Ah… Hi?" I gave myself the mental finger. Get a damn grip, Andreas. You can't get thrown by a little girl! Even if she isn't that little in… I groaned and reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose. I didn't need this right now!
"Are you alright?" The girl asked concernedly and I noted that she'd moved a bit closer. That was a nice scent… I wonder... gnh!
I cleared my throat and took a step back. "Fine. Fine. I'm just fine." I winced again. Babbling now? That's a new low. I was going to look back at this later and slap myself over the head in shame, I just knew it!
She giggled.
I felt a bit flushed. God, this was so embarrassing! I steeled myself and straightened up. You are a grown-ass man, Andreas! Damn well try to at least not make an ass of yourself like every other teenager! You should be able to do that at least, I thought.
I took a deep breath through my nose, held it for a moment, and then let it out slowly through my mouth. An old meditative trick I'd learned that'd come in handy numerous times in my stay here, and before. A good way to center yourself, and it was an excellent beginning if you wanted to meditate for real. I opened my eyes and took in the girl in front of me again. She was looking at me curiously, probably wondering if I was a bit touched in the head. I can't say I blame her. It was true, strictly speaking.
She was somewhat familiar, but then everyone in the school was familiar. I sighed. "Sorry about that. You startled me."
She smiled again and took a step closer. "Oh, that's just fine. I like to startle people…" she said leadingly.
What the hell did she mean by that? I mean, the way she said it kinda felt like something… I frowned. "I'm sorry; I'm having trouble placing you. Have we talked before?"
Her smarmy expression immediately morphed into something I'd describe as shocked disbelief for a moment before she snapped back to her previous sunny expression. "Oh, how rude of me. I guess we never really talked before, I'm Felicitania Tugwood. We have Herbology together. It's nice to finally talk to you." She told me brightly, taking another little step forward.
That struck a chord. Gaspode had mentioned that name occasionally. Felicitania Tugwood, the Head Bitch of Gryffindor, she ruled the house of the lions like the Queen of Thorns ruled Highgarden, using her beauty and razor-sharp tongue to get her way. She was the heir apparent to a little beauty potion empire started by her grandmother Sacharissa Tugwood. She was one of the schools "Elite" crowd, one of the popular people, the "in" crowd. What the hell was she doing talking to me, and in this manner? I wasn't exactly bad looking or anything, but by the same token I wasn't Brad Pitt either. I'd like to think I was reasonably attractive but if I'm being honest I was at best ordinary. So a chick looking like her making coweyes at someone like me was… suspicious.
Now that my brain was firing on most of its cylinders instead of being choked by the sea of teenage hormones pumping through me it was plainly obvious that she was trying to flirt with me. I didn't think for a second she had any real interest in me. In the social hierarchy of the school, I might as well not exist. Which means she wanted something… I hate when people wanted something and tried to be circumspect about it. I didn't like being manipulated, particularly not like this. I'm not my penis, and it don't dictate where I go and what I do, damnit.
"What do you want?" I asked, my voice probably sounding a bit harsh, but I didn't care. I didn't like being played with.
Felicitania gave me another warm smile and took the final step into my personal bubble and grabbed hold of my arm and pressed herself close to me. "You're interesting. I'd like to get to know you a bit better, Drew. You don't mind do you?" she asked me sweetly.
Okay, the reason for her being in Gryffindor confirmed. The girl didn't lack for confidence, that much was apparent. I debated what to do. I could just shove her off me. I could also lead her around on a merry little chase, I didn't need to know what she wanted to frustrate her, I just needed to not agree to anything she asked me. The first felt a bit excessive and I didn't have the time over for playing games with this little girl. I didn't feel like playing this game.
"Tugwood!" I snapped, probebly a bit more harshly then i needed. "Can you pretend for a moment that my brain isn't located below the belt and that I'm smart enough to notice when someone is trying to pull one over me. You want me to believe that someone like you, who has the pick of any boy in this school, would be interested in some nobody like me? Try again."
Felicitania looked startled again before her expression turned considering. A calculating gleam showed up in her eyes and she studied me. I could just see her fitting things I'd just said into place in her mind. Then she smiled at me again, and now there was something… sharp in the expression. I felt the hairs on my neck stand up, and I'm not entirely sure it was from fear.
"Alright." She said as smoothly and warmly as before, but with a certain steely undertone that hadn't been there before. "Let's then also pretend that I'm smart enough to realize that you aren't just some nobody. I don't think a nobody would be eligible for their own apartment and exemption from the house system, do you?"
I felt the bottom of the stomach fall out. I don't know what I expected to come out of her mouth but it sure as shit had not been that. I gritted my teeth. "How did you find out about that?" I found myself asking.
She smiled at me a bit smugly. "Is it really important?" she countered easily.
"It might be!" I growled and again considered shaking her off my arm. "Who knows about this besides you?"
"Oh, only me right now." She answered airily and pressed my arm a bit deeper in between her breasts.
"Is this some kind of blackmail attempt, because…" I started to growl only for her to interrupt me with a derisive snort.
"Do I look stupid to you?" She snapped in obvious disgust at the very idea. "Because I'm not! That's just dumb. Like I'd have to resort to something like that!"
"Then what do you want." I pressed again.
She rolled her eyes. "What I said of course. I want to get to know you better, I didn't lie about that. Someone that has what you do is bound to be at least a bit interesting, which is more than I can say about most of the dorks that go to this school."
I felt an almost irrational sense of amusement well up inside me at her frank appraisal of the other students in the school. The sheer gall… I didn't have words. "You're some piece of work, Tugwood," I said incredulously.
She sniffed arrogantly. "Of course. You didn't really think just anyone could have figured you out? And don't think I didn't catch that you suddenly knew who I was, even though you said you didn't." She told me pointedly.
I snorted a laugh. "I knew you by name; I didn't have a face to put the name to." I defended myself. Why was I defending myself? She was the one imposing on me!
"Sure you did." She said in a way to showed that she didn't believe me.
"I'n not playing this game with you, Tugwood." I snapped irritably.
Felicitania didn't seem at all detered by that and just gave me another warm smile. "Who is playing?"
Now I did shake her off and started down the hallway. I couldn't deal with this right now, I needed to think. Unfortunately, Felicitania seemed determined not to give me the time as she quickly reappeared at my side, though she didn't grab ahold of me again. "What?"
"Where are we going." She asked brightly.
"Who is "we"?" I asked snidely. "You aren't coming."
"S'not like you could stop me coming along." She countered easily.
I snorted. I had at least ten different charms that could do the trick. "I wouldn't be too sure about that, Tugwood," I stated.
She gave me another disbelieving look. "You'd hex someone for wanting to get to know you?
"That's not the point!" I exclaimed in frustration.
"Is there a point? Besides you being rude and silly?" She asked me evenly as we turned the corner that led to the staircases.
"I'm rude! I'm not the one that ambushed me outside my rooms!" I complained before I could stop myself. Why was I arguing with this bint?
"Well, you hardly gave me any choice, you are either shut away in your room or the library, and we can hardly get to know each other in there, now can we?." She said reasonably. "You still haven't told me where we are going." She chided me.
"Why should I?" I grunted.
"Why shouldn't you. I'm going to follow you there anyway." She stated bluntly.
"You are unbelievable!" I complained loudly.
She gave me the same warm smile she had when she'd first accosted me, but this time it had a definite salacious overtone. "Oh honey, you have no idea."
God fuck, she got me to blush! This is officially the new low point in my life!